FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art graphical displays 10 for providing probable payout information to a wagerer. Specifically, the display 10 of FIG. 1 displays probable payouts for an “exotic” wager that includes a selection of two entrants from a race, such as a horse race. More specifically, FIG. 1 shows probable payouts for an exacta wager for a particular race. As indicated by columns 12 and by rows 14, the race associated with the display 10 includes eight entrants (“1” through “8”). The display 10 shows the probable payouts for every possible exacta combination of the identified entrants. For example, an exacta wager including horse “4” finishing second (indicated by column 12a) and horse “8” finishing first (indicated by row 14a) has a probable payout of $201.37 on a standard $2 wager. Conversely, an exacta wager including horse “8” finishing second (indicated by column 12b) and horse “4” finishing first (indicated by row 14b) has a probable payout of $119.46 on a standard $2 wager.
Similar displays correspond to other exotic two horse wagers, including quiniela wagers and daily double wagers. For quiniela wagers, the probable payout listed for a column X and row Y is the same as the probable payout listed for a column Y and row X because the order of the first and second place finishers is not specified for a quiniela wager. For daily double wagers, the entrants of a first race are typically listed in rows 14 and the entrants of the second race included in the daily double wager are typically listed in columns 12. Of course, each race need not have the same number of entrants, and the grid of displays 10 is configured accordingly.
The prior art display 10 may be displayed on an electronic display board at a track or at an off-track betting (OTB) facility, or more recently, as a Web page provided to a wagerer's browser-enabled computer through the Internet. The display 10 is typically updated periodically as odds and pools change to indicate changes in probable payouts for the exotic wager.
While the display 10 described above provides comprehensive probable payout information to a wagerer, the display 10 can prove overwhelming. The display provides all probable payout information at once, providing a congested display that often provides extraneous information on combinations that are of no interest to a particular wagerer.
There remains a need, therefore, for an improved method and system of presenting probable payout information for exotic wagers. Still further, there remains a need for an interactive method and system of presenting probable payout information as dictated by a wagerer's particular wagering interests.
As briefly explained above in connection with daily double wagers, several exotic wagers require a selection of entrants from two or more races. Examples of these exotic wagers include daily double wagers, pick three wagers, pick six wagers, pick nine wagers, win four wagers and place pick nine wagers. Particularly with Internet based wagering systems, a separate Web page screen is utilized to show entrant information for each race. For example, a first Web page provided to a wagerer's computer displays information relevant to a first race, e.g., entrant number, morning line odds, and horse, jockey and trainer name for each entrant. A second Web page must be requested by the user and displayed to the user in order to view similar information for a second race, and so on for each race at the track. This method of providing racing information to the wagerer makes examining this information very cumbersome and makes placing multiple race, exotic wagers overly complex. The wagerer typically types his or her wager into a graphical interface, but the wagerer must recall the aforementioned information for each race from memory during the decision making process or continually navigate different interface screens to access program information for different races. This proves increasingly more difficult as wager complexity increases, i.e., as the number of races associated with a wager increases. Therefore, there remains a need for an improved method and system of providing racing information to a wagerer for multiple race exotic wagers.